Betty is making me nervous...

[tasymo]

Hello!
These are my three Barred Rocks ~ all purchased at the same time at about one week old.

http://s580.photobucket.com/albums/ss243/tasymo/?action=view&current=Untitled-3.jpg

They were labeled as pullets. I've always heard that Barred Rock hens tend to be darker, with more black bars than the Roos. Harriette is huge, very aggresive about food, and stand offish. Opal is very sweet natured and calm. Betty is the smallest and darkest of the three, and extremely fiesty. All the other girls have developed a low pitched chuckle, but Betty only makes high pitched noises and is very vocal. She chases off any song birds in the yard and calls the rest of the Girls in at bedtime (I've got six total). Even though all the rest are considerably bigger than her, Betty backs down to no one. She is also the one chicken that jumps up on my lap regularly and likes being petted. They are all about 17 weeks old. I don't see any sign of pointed hackles or saddle feathers on any of them, but Betty's comb and wattles are bright red and well developed, compared to her sisters. I am a little concerned that Betty may be a Roo, which I'm not supposed to have, but don't Roo's usually get quite a bit bigger than hens? Harriette is actually built more like a Roo, with huge feet (I sometimes call her Sassquatch), bigger body and a fierce attitude. Any opinions? Thanks!

 

[Uppity Peon]

Betty had very well developed wattles, but at 17 weeks I'm not so sure that means anything. I don't have any BRs, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say she's just an early bloomer and spoiled and well loved.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

My Betty the Beautiful Bitty was just renamed to Buddy this week. I've known he was a roo for the last 3 or so weeks, but up until then I just called him Betty Boy.

Buddy is my lap chicken too.

 

[Chicken Downunder]

I got three supposedly "girl" barred rocks earlier on in the year, all roughtly the same age and Polly turned out to be a Percy. I could actually tell quite early on as Polly/Percy was very much darker than the other two and developed wattles etc quicker than the others even though he/she was the smallest. Also had the attitude and bossed the other larger girls around. I honestly can't tell from your photos but from what I have read and heard, the darker colour is definately the key to telling a hen from a roo. Me thinks you probably have one !!!!

 

[stuckinthecity]

To me, she seems to be a hen, shes identical to the other 2 except for the larger comb/wattles. Just listen for the tell-tell sign, CROWING!

 

[BarkerChickens]

At 17 weeks, they all look like girls to me. One of my BR hens has bigger wattles and comb than your Betty.